WESTFIELD – Tonight’s meeting of the Westfield City Council has deja vu potential for At-large Councilor Brian Sullivan, who many believe will be selected again as council president for 2015 this evening.
A move to the council president’s chair would be a familiar one for Sullivan, who has served in the position for seven years on the council, a tenure which began in 1998.
Sullivan served as council president from 2001 to 2002, 2005 to 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2013.
A Sullivan election tonight would tie him with the late Charlie Medeiros for most years served in the position, a title that he considers an honor.
“I served with Charlie for many years and consider him a dear friend,” said Sullivan.
The contest to succeed 2014 council president Brent Bean II is considered a two-horse race at this point, with Sullivan and fellow At-large colleague David Flaherty said to be the only candidates garnering support.
Over the weekend, Sullivan said that he had spoken with Flaherty, who told him that he would have his support in the event that he could not garner enough for his own candidacy.
As to how this year will differ from his previous seven years as council president, Sullivan said the city is in a “different time.”
“Obviously finances the last few years have been extremely tough, but the council has made strides to make some bold decisions and I want to continue doing that,” he said. “I think we had some great conversations and great votes last year to help the taxbase, as well as the budget, and that’s going to continue.”
Sullivan added that he has come up with some new ideas for this year through conversations with fellow councilors, most notably a capital budget plan for such items like vehicles and one-time capital projects.
“(The city) hasn’t done a good job of that in the past, so we’re going to take a look at that so we don’t get bogged down during the budget process,” he said.
Tonight’s vote after last week’s announcement from Westfield Mayor Daniel M. Knapik will not be seeking another term this Fall.
Should Knapik choose not to finish the year and resign before June 30, his successor would be elected via special election, but should the three-term Mayor vacate the office after June 30, the Council President would be catapulted into the Mayor’s office and given a headstart for a potential run of their own in the fall.
While he confirmed he is considering a mayoral run, Sullivan said Saturday that he hasn’t made up his mind quite yet but that he is interested and will probably make an announcement sooner or later.
“I haven’t officially decided, but I do have a committee out there and am very interested in looking at the response I’m getting from people right now,” he said. “We started this prior to Mayor Knapik’s announcement, so this was something I was looking at going into 2015.”
Regarding a recent Westfield News column written by Ward 1 Councilor Mary O’Connell, in which she said whoever is elected council president should recuse themselves from running for mayor, reasoning that the council president would have an “unfair advantage” going into the election.
O’Connell equated the situation with Governor Deval L. Patrick’s appointment of Mo Cowan to succeed former Senator John Kerry in 2013 when he was appointed as Secretary of State. Sullivan said O’Connell is entitled to her opinion and he respects it, but that the two situations are not one in the same.
“The difference is that the president is elected by their colleagues and councilors are elected by the people, so there are no appointments there. Those are processes that are already in place,” he said. “The way the charter and rules are written, we have things in place that cover that and succession, much like the Vice President of the United States becomes President if the President can’t perform their duties.”
“Along with those elected positions come the job duties of the office,” he said.
